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George R. Stewart’s last great book was Names On The Globe. He wrote another names book, American Given Names, before he died, (see earlier post about that book) but it was a dictionary and history of selected American names. Names On The Globe, like his classic and never-duplicated Names On The Land, was a history of place-naming – in this case, on a global scale. Here, in the last post about one of Stewart’s major publications, is a short essay about the book.

As in Names On The Land, Stewart has created a rich, complex, and deep – but easily understood – history of the process of place naming and of eras of place naming. Although it is supposedly about global naming, for many obvious and practical reasons GRS focuses on names in the areas we then called “western civilization.” He was not a Chinese or Japanese scholar, nor an African one, nor one who knew much of Aboriginal languages and culture. So he stuck with what he did know, with some brief chapters and comments about other regions of the world – assuming, probably, that others who came after him might add deeper histories of the naming in those places. Another reason for emphasizing “Western Civilization” is that he spoke or read many Indo-European languages, and had studied the history of most Indo-European countries (save India), so he could do the scholarship necessary to tease out the story of those names.

He takes a different approach to understanding place naming in this book, beginning with an examination of Man as a Namer. No recorded human society is without names. Some have evolved, GRS says, and others were bestowed. That is, in finding a previously unknown river its name “new river” evolved from the name of the original river. But Tamsen’s Town was a name that would have been bestowed on a place by settlers of travelers.

GRS continues by considering the mind of Man the Namer, as he explains the types of place names given, and the reasons for giving them. Some places, for example, were important to the namers because of incidents that happened there (Colt Killed Creek), others show possession (Wassa’s Town, Washington), others commemorate great (or small) events (Washington’s Crossing), and so forth.

In Part III, the longest section, GRS describes the names and naming in various places around the globe. In discussing Celtic names, in modern Europe, he points out that they were so well-connected with the land that they outlasted the names later given by the Romans, even if in altered form. But, as he points out, some of the “Celtic” names were probably originally given by earlier settlers.

Part IV is especially interesting, as Stewart considers important uses for ancient names – as tools for archaeologist, historians, and other scholars. Fittingly, since Stewart was, after all, a poet who wrote prose, he ends with a chapter about place names as useful tools for poets. “…The romantic appeal springs from sonorous syllables, and from a sense of the strange, bizarre, and wonderful. …” Stewart writes, noting that the poet or author needs not to know the meaning of the name to use it in his work. He quotes several famous poets who are known for the excellent use of such names, mentions Stephen Vincent Benet’s American Names. And he quotes, appropriately, the beautiful opening of his own Names on the Land, where he lists the wonderful names found here – Gunsight Pass, Lone Pine, Broken Bow, Roaring Run, and the others.

He finishes the book, as he sometimes finished his works, with a reflection on even the most prosaic seeming of names, Cowbridge. Did a cow fall from the bridge? Or refuse to cross? “….even the simple Cowbridge stirs the imagination,” George R. Stewart writes, as he finishes his great work.

The Author’s Note brings that work to a close. He will finish and publish his book on American given names, but this, he knows, is his last great work. So he honors his greatest friend, his wife, Theodosia, “who,” he writes, “might well be given the title Encourager of Books.”

And, thus, Opus Perfeci. For this study of the books of George R. Stewart, and his life, and related topics. Depending on what may come, I plan to add more as things of interest show up. And since Stewart wrote of Earth from the view of space, ground, ecosystem, language, history, literature, and so on, I still have a broad canvas to draw on.

In the meantime, many thanks to all of you – from nearly 60 countries, in every continent save Antarctica at last count – who have visited this site, read the posts, commented on them, and encouraged the work. You have been an inspiration.

In William Least Heat Moon’s American classic, Blue Highways, Least Heat Moon explains that one of the goals of his 11,000 mile American journey was to visit towns with unusual names. Since another of his goals was to follow the old U.S. Highways, I guessed he knew the work of George R. Stewart. So when I met him, I said, “You’ve been influenced by George R. Stewart.” He looked up from the desk where he was signing books and said, “Yes. Profoundly. How did you know?” “Because I’m a scholar of GRS’s works, and Blue Highways is clearly influenced by U. S. 40, Names On The Land, andAmerican Place Names.”

American Place Names is one of the last books – all about names – that Stewart wrote before his death in 1980. He had a fascination with names, of place particularly, and with what names tell us about the people who do the naming. Names on the Landis his masterwork, a history of American place naming – which Stewart considered untranslatable since it included so many unique American references. (But that’s not stopping Scholar Junlin Pan, who, following a request from one of the most distinguished publishing houses in China, is well along in her translation – with a little help from someone who knows American history and can give some sense of meanings of American place names.)

Researching Names on the Land, Stewart had built a huge file of the history of how places were named, far more than could be used in the book. So now, near the end of his work, he decided to publish those mini-histories of the names. Released in 1970 by Oxford University Press, American Place Names was described as “an instant classic.”

The book contains the meaning and brief history of approximately 12,000 names of places from coast to coast and border to border, in its 500 plus pages. Names like Arroyo Grande – Big Gulch or Big Creek or Big Ditch, named tautologically – Arroyo Grande Creek means Big Creek Creek – or for some prominent local feature. Pismo, as in Pismo Beach, means tar in Chumash, since the area is filled with tar seeps (and now oil fields and a refinery). Bug Scuffle warns the visitor that he or she should expect to spend time fighting off bedbugs or other members of the insect world. Likely was named because the locals believed it was unlikely that any other town with a post office would have that name. Nameless, a humorous name for a small feature or town; Accident because somebody surveyed some land by accident; Los Angeles, an Anglo contraction of the Spanish name “Nuestra Senora de los Angeles de Porciuncula; Angels Camp, for founder George Angel. And so on, and so on.

The book is a wonderful read….the type of book to keep by the bed so you can browse through it before sleep and thus perchance dream of all those exotic places on American roads and trails that you hope to see someday. I also suggest to friends that they keep a copy in their car, so that when they’re on a long trip, they can find the meaning of interesting names of the places they pass through- Devil’s Churn, say, or Ekalaka, or Deer Lodge, or Ten Sleep, or Monticello, or Yosemite.

William Least Heat Moon visited or acknowledged several places with unusual names on his great odyssey – Dime Box, Texas; Nameless, Tennessee; Igo and Ono, California. His chapter on Nameless is one of the great pieces of American writing, which everyone should read.

If you’re going to visit these places, you’d better hurry. The bowdlerizers are hard at work, removing some of the most interesting and important names from the map. Nellie’s Nipple may go; Shit House Mountain has probably gone. In some instances, the names are offensive; but they reflect a part or our history, and the censors should not be allowed to erase that from the map. But they’re in high dudgeon now, and have the ear – or some appendage – of the establishment, so much of our language is at the risk, including our place names. Visit while you can. And in preparation, read Stewart’s book.

October’s issue of The Donner Summit Heirloom has a series of articles about George R. Stewart, or topics that relate to Stewart’s subjects. There’s a good article about the search for the California Trail route over Donner Pass, which includes some information about the Lincoln Highway route – think Stewart’s U.S. 40 and The California Trail – a review of Stewart’s landmark work, Ordeal By Hunger, a description of the new George R. Stewart interpretive sign.

There’s also my article about Stewart, with an emphasis on his connections to the Donner Summit area. It gives a good overview of the man and his work. If you’d like a quick introduction to GRS, you’ll find the article – and the other articles – useful.

Thanks to several sponsors and the hard work of Bill Oudegeest of the Donner Summit Historical Society, the George R. Stewart interpretive sign, which will be part of the Twenty-Mile Museum, has gone to the manufacturer. The base will be installed soon; the sign, late next spring when the Pass opens. Here’s the final (or nearly final) sign:

Bill chose the location with care, and it’s perfect: A parking area which overlooks Donner Lake, Donner Peak, the historic “Rainbow Bridge” on U.S. 40, and the Summit of Donner Pass – which would have been the route of the first covered wagons over the Pass.

Here’s a photo from Bill, showing where the sign will be placed:

Stand by the sign, face northwest across old U.S. 40 to look directly at George R. Stewart Peak. Here’s a photo from a kind soul who posted it to Google Maps:

The parking area is close to the Pacific Crest Trail, too, The PCT crosses U.S. 40 not far beyond the left (west) side of this photo. Here’s a map from Bill which shows the PCT crossing – yellow arrow – in relation to the sign location at the parking lot – black arrow.

It’s a short walk – always face traffic! – to the Trail Crossing; from there, it’s a short hike and scramble to the summit of George R. Stewart Peak. The directions are on the new sign.

Let’s all hope to meet there some day in the summery future, and do the hike. Afterward, we can have a picnic – Ted (Theodosia) Stewart loved picnics – and read from Stewart’s books.

Thanks to Bill Oudegeest, and the sponsors who made this possible:

Alan Kaplan, Naturalist, Founder of the National Association for Interpretation, Stewart Scholar;

Paul F. Starrs, distinguished geographer, University of Nevada, Reno, Professor, author of books about California agriculture, the Black Rock Desert, and other topics;

Joyce Colbath-Stewart, wife of GRS’s son Jack Stewart, inveterate hiker, and caretaker of Stewart family history;

Steve and Carol Williams. Steve – who went to school with Lennon and McCartney – is a Stewart scholar, artist, teacher; Carol is his partner in all things;

Denise and Milton Barney, campers extraordinaire, who have walked the GRS journey with me for many years. Denise is a poet, Barney a scouter encouraging young folks to explore the outdoors like Stewart;

Beth Lapachet and Brian Byrne, also campers and colleagues for many years.

John and Angela Lucia, former Rangers, who have also walked the GRS journey for decades, and helped support it;

Bob Lyon, Founder of The Friends of George R. Stewart, Stewart Scholar, and Encourager of all things Stewart, who first introduced Steve Williams to the Friends of GRS.

In a recent post, I described the Twenty-Mile Museum – the interpretive signs that line the historic route of U.S. 40 over Donner Summit – placed by the Donner Summit Historical Society. Next spring, a sign for George R. Stewart will join the Twenty-Mile Museum.

Looking over the various pages on the Historical Society’s website, a few weeks ago, I found a link to their Newsletters. Since there was none with an article about GRS, I contacted the Editor, Bill Oudegeest,to volunteer to write one.

After receiving the first draft, Bill suggested the Society would be interested in placing a GRS interpretive sign along the old highway, if financial sponsorship and help with the sign’s research and writing were available. I sent in some photos and text, posted a message to the GRS group, and soon the design was underway, the cost fully sponsored. Thanks to Brian and Beth, Steve and Carol, Bob and Sandra, Paul F., Denise and Barney, John and Angela, Willie, Joyce, and Alan, the sign will be installed next spring. Caltrans has approved the sign’s location; Bill has done a fine layout. The sign will be installed very near the Historic U.S. 40 access point for the Pacific Crest Trail – which is also the closest access to George R. Stewart Peak. This means that hundreds of hikers on the PCT, day hikers in the Donner Summit area, drivers sauntering over Historic U.S. 40 (the subject of a legendary book by GRS), or anyone who visits the Society’s small museum in Soda Springs will learn about George R. Stewart and his remarkable books. Hopefully, many of those people will take the short side-trail and scramble to the top of George R. Stewart Peak (named in honor of GRS by the Board of Geographic Names). The round trip from Historic U.S. 40 is only about 3 miles.

Those interested in George R. Stewart and the Donner Summit area owe thanks to all those involved in this successful project. The Donner Summit Historical Society is always looking for members; one way to show your thanks is to join!

Below is the current draft of the GRS Interpretive Sign. It will be placed next spring, after the old road reopens. Some of us are already dreaming about a dedication celebration. Stay tuned.

To refresh your memory: The famous portrait, Migrant Mother, has a George R. Stewart connection. Stewart knew Dorothea Lange, the photographer, and her husband Dr. Paul Taylor. Stewart may have written part of STORM in the Taylor-Lange arts and crafts cottage in Berkeley.

(See earlier post for the famous photo and more detail.)

Thanks to a local citizen, Tobie Charles, I discovered that the photo was taken not far from where this is being written – in the small rural town of Nipomo. Now, with help from a local museum fellow writer Brian Byrne found the actual location of the Nipomo pea pickers camp where the photo was taken.

Here’s a location shot, which shows the Migrant Mother’s family in her tent. Notice the Eucalyptus trees in the background:

If you look carefully at those trees, and imagine the same location a 80 years later, this is how it would look:

The exact location won’t be published, to protect the site; but it is certainly one of the most important places in American and world history, and the birthplace of a milestone in photographic art.

Stewart was not alone in his ground-breaking work and ideas. He was part of a group of scholars, writers, artists, and thinkers who helped create a small enlightenment with big effects, centered around UC Berkeley, and the Central California coast. Steinbeck, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and many others – including Dorothea Lange and Stewart – helped change the world. Such changes require a Fellowship of great minds, like these.

There’s a legendary story about museum design that comes from Grand Canyon National Park. The designer apparently did a wonderful job putting together a state-of-the-art museum design. But when he showed it to the park’s superintendent, he got a rebuff. The superintendent said something like this: “The Grand Canyon is out there. Your museum keeps visitors inside and away from it. Open the museum up and let it lead them out into the Canyon.”

That’s also the philosophy of the Donner Summit Historical Society. The Society operates a small visitor center near the summit and publishes a fine newsletter. But the bulk of its energy seems to be site-focused. It sponsors a series of hikes into the area which help interested people learn about the place in the best way, perspiring as they are inspired. But it is the Society’s unique linear museum, placed along the historic route of U.S. 40 (and the Lincoln Highway) which educates the bulk of visitors about Donner Summit and the surrounding country.

The Twenty-Mile Museum is a fine collection of interpretive signs placed along old US 40. Visitors to the country made famous by George R. Stewart in Storm, Ordeal By Hunger, and other books can thus learn about its history on site. The panels interpret human connections with the area from ancient petroglyph-making eras through the Overland Migration period, the work done by Chinese Americans on the transcontinental railroad, and early highway eras. Here’s an example:

If you’re planning a trip over Donner Pass to Lake Tahoe or Reno, allow time to stop by some of those interpretive signs. They encourage exploration; so plan enough time for a short hike or two as well. You can prepare for the adventure by downloading the text version of the Twenty-Mile Museum Brochure here.

George R. Stewart educated the world about Donner Summit country, in the more than 20 languages in which his books were published. The Twenty Mile Museum adds the critical field experience to that GRS education. It’s a great concept and a highly recommended experience.